Live Review: Parquet Courts, Timothy Nelson & The Infidels

Someone needs to make a case for Chevron Festival Gardens becoming a permanent feature in Perth, at least in the summer months, because seeing bands performing there is an amazing experience.

Last night it was New York’s Parquet Courts taking to the stage, first supported by locals Timothy Nelson & The Infidels; it seemed a bit of an odd choice to have them playing there, but the band killed it, maintaining their rep as one of the tightest bands around town. The backup singers added that extra zazz to the performance, while Timothy Nelson himself seemed to shine on the big stage, his vocals entirely on point. They definitely won over some new fans in the process.

Parquet Courts made their way onto stage around nine o’clock, and launched straight into You’ve Got Me Wonderin’ Now – Andrew Savage looking like Napoleon Dynamite, and even sounding enough like him if you used a bit of imagination. The opening track from their 2014 record, Sunbathing Animal, Bodies Made Of received a cheer of recognition and worked the crowd into a groove, before the band slowed it down with Instant Disassembly, causing a rousing singalong among the band’s diehard fans. Ducking & Dodging proved to be a highlight of the evening – the band tweaked the song ever so slightly to ensure the crowd could react as rowdily as possible, and they delivered – the front part of the viewing platform went absolutely crazy, a good 100 people throwing themselves all over the place.

One of the best things to take away from the evening was that there didn’t seem to be a single person, even amidst the chaos, acting out of line – people went nuts, but did so in a considerate manner. Surprisingly the band busted out tracks from their other 2014 record under their Parkay Quarts moniker, including Everyday It Starts and Content Nausea, and it really made you realise just how good the band is at creating catchy indie-punk around the simplest of instrumental structures. They played favourites Master Of My Craft, Borrowed Time, and finished off with Light Up Gold II and Sunbathing Animal, before leaving the stage. The crowd remained, stamping their feet and chorusing for an encore, thinking surely the band would make their way back to the stage to perform their biggest and most popular track, Stoned & Starving, but... it just never came. People slowly trickled out from the venue feeling bummed and confused – it was a bit of a dampener, but if you could let it slide, the performance as a whole was brilliant and it’s little wonder the band have become so popular in such a short amount of time.